The Alton Wines Tasting Room and Wine Garden is nestled into an existing cove formed by the surrounding landscape and vineyards of Walla Walla, Wash. The site, which was deemed unfarmable due to the makeup of the soil and its location in the crook of the vineyards, provided the architects, Seattle-based GO'C, the opportunity to insert the facility directly into the vineyard, intimately connecting the experience of wine with the landscape.
New tasting room and wine garden intimately connect the experience of wine with the landscape
Photo: Kevin Scott
A Unique Location
According to Jon Gentry, AIA, partner of GO’C, the design for the tasting room and wine garden started with the unique characteristics of the site. “The existing topography just outside of Walla Walla has wave-like landforms created by old river drainages and the site offers a natural cove for the structure,” he explains. “Our initial visit to the landscape and subsequently the site planning sketches of the structure were all in response to how the building could nestle into this cove and capture the landscape. From those early sketches, the concept for the building kept reinforcing this idea that the architecture should act as a frame, bringing the landscape closer into focus.”
Hidden from the main road, the tasting room sits within an untouched pocket amongst farmlands, which provides an opportunity to create a special experience for guests from the time they exit the road and drive out into the fields to discover the hidden structure. “With unlimited potential on this site, the challenge was how best to harness the expansive views and create an unforgettable guest experience,” says Aimee O’Carroll, ARB, partner, GO’C. “Walla Walla is known for its hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters, as such it was very important to create ample opportunity for shaded outdoor areas in the spring/summer and warm, inviting interiors for the winter months.”
Photo: Kevin Scott
Architectural Framework
Key to the tasting room’s design was the layering of the site. The architects wanted to create a soft edge, a blur from the farmland beyond, through to the new gardens, the outdoor terrace and into the building. The architecture acts as a frame, bringing the landscape into focus as a part of one’s immediate experience.
Upon arrival, visitors go south to the tasting room and wine garden, which is oriented east/west across the site. This dramatic approach captures the view of the Blue Mountains, which can be seen through the terrace between the two main wings of the building. “The site offers stunning views to the south which are maximized as the building opens up to the fields beyond,” Gentry notes.
A high priority for the owners was for the tasting room to be open, airy and inviting, where guests could linger and there would be lots of flexibility for programming and events. A covered outdoor wine garden and a large, raised terrace to the south increases the usable space, while giving guests options to tailor the experience.
Photo: Kevin Scott
Simple Forms
To create drama and a rich experience, the tasting room’s architecture is defined by simple forms and materials, leveraging the power of procession, framed views and fabric awnings. The architects used a rigorous structural grid and framed openings to organize the interior and exterior spaces, allowing for an efficient and cost-effective construction process.
Starting at the entrance, steel bays form an arbor that will be planted with grape vines, creating shade on summer days. The arbor provides views into each room, while framing the Blue Mountains in the distance. “Over time,” O’Carroll says, “vines will grow over the arbor, shielding visitors from the often-harsh summer sun as they approach the tasting room.”
The arbor structure passes through the building, forming the frame for the shade awning on the south terrace outside the tasting room. The steel structure is capped with a sheltering roof that is pierced by an anchoring chimney stack, an extruded skylight and a carved roof opening at the entrance. These three elements anchor the west end of the space, funneling natural light deep into the building, framing views of the sky throughout the seasons.
“The structures are designed to maximize passive ventilation,” O’Carroll, explains. “The exterior canopies reduce solar gain into the tasting room during the hottest months. The roof is also structured to accommodate a future solar panel array to offset energy usage.”
Photo: Kevin Scott
Mountain States Construction Co., Sunnyside, Wash., and Evergreen Machine & Fabrication Inc., Yakima, Wash., supplied the custom steel for the project. The skylights are from Crystalite Inc., Everett, Wash.; the sliding doors from Arcadia Inc., Vernon, Calif., and the windows from Dallas-based Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope.
“We knew the form of the building had to remain very elemental,” Gentry explains. “We didn’t want to create something loud that would compete with the landscape. We have one consistent datum that defines the top of the arbor, the sunshade and the glazing. Above that datum, we designed a large sheltering roof. This horizontality emphasizes the structure’s relationship to the big landscape and horizon beyond. This roof plane is then pierced at a few key locations creating these moments of pause at the entry court roof opening, the tasting room skylight, and the totemic chimney mass that anchors the west end.”
The remainder of the building is a simple palette of a raised concrete base, steel frames and cedar cladding. “These are expressed in honest, natural tones, a subdued palette, deferential to the surrounding landscape,” Gentry adds.